hello? is anyone still out there?

it's been a long while since my last post.  i know you can only see so much of gibson picking his nose.  well, i have to say that this pregnancy fatigue thing is wiping me out.  not to mention the loss of appetite.  most days, it seems like it takes so much energy just to get up and get the kids ready, fed and entertained (fortunately they're excellent at keeping themselves busy) that i'm spent as soon as i get time to myself.  my brain is tired.  and after getting done with regular day to day stuff, typing something up seems to take a lot of extra effort these days.

but besides feeling like a sloth and being off the internet radar, i do take advantage of the the days when i have small bursts of energy.  this past week, my sewing machine has been put to work with a few personal projects. 

1. i promised my dear daughter i'd make her a new apron after her red gingham plastic one ripped.  we went to joann's and she got to pick out her own fabric for the new apron.  it was very exciting for her, especially since she was able to provide input on how the over all appearance of the apron.

she loves the little pockets, and i think she was quite pleased with the outcome.  now she's been asking to go back to joann's to pick out more fabric "for me and mommy to make dresses together."  ummm...yeah.  i can sew, but i'm not that good.  and i don't know about this whole matching thing.  coordinating outfits, i'm okay with but matching outfits may be a little over the top.  we'll see...

 2. i made a mei tai for aaron and me to use with gibson (and future baby) using some gender neutral fabric.  of course you could always buy one (there are some great ones here and here), but at $80-100 a pop, i'd rather take the couple of days to make one of my own.  granted, i've already got a wrap and a pouch sling, but nothing that allowed my husband to wear the baby if he chooses to. the wrap would have worked with aaron if i had made the fabric long enough, but i figured the mei tai would be simpler to use for my husband rather than the wrap.  plus it gave me an excuse to try a new baby carrier.

it took a little bit of poking around the internet before i decided on a pattern i liked.  i'm a fairly novice sewer so clear, detailed, easy to follow instructions were key.  i decided to go with this pattern, with some slight changes.  instead of using 2 waist straps i used one long one that went across the bottom, making sure the length would be long enough for me and my husband to use (this is huge because i'm 5'2" and he's 6').  i liked this pattern because it had a front pocket addition, a little sleeping hood,  and the shoulder straps were nice and long (again, a key factor because of our height difference).

aaron got to do the first test run.  we even used the sleeping hood for head support since gibson ended up falling asleep. (the 2 tassles on the hood weren't done yet, but it still worked quite well).  the mei tai also seemed sturdy enough to carry emma.  of course she just hit 30 lbs. at age 4 so it may be a different situation with other 4 year olds.  i think if i make another one, i'd make some changes to the sleeping hood and maybe do a head rest instead.

 3. i finally finished up the last pillow case for our throw pillows.  quick and easy make-over for the living room.

other than some sewing madness (i only say madness because it's a bit crazy trying to find time to sew between having 2 little ones around and keeping the urge to nap all.the.time. at bay) i've been fairly preoccupied with working on our baby steps. those first 2 steps are so hard.  just when we were done with step 1 we got hit with some major expenses (tree removal, new fridge, new brakes for aaron's car) that happened within months of each other.  i'm glad we had a savings to take care of it, but now we're back to square 1.  a little frustrating to say the least.  needless to say, i've been busy researching our options so that we can get back on track to finishing the first 2 steps (that really makes my brain tired!).

so there's your recap for the week.  don't worry, i won't leave you hanging for another week.  there'll be a few more posts (hopefully) before next friday rolls around.